Senior officials from countries along the Mekong River including Cambodia , China , Vietnam , Laos , Myanmar , and Thailand on October 15 gathered in Phnom Penh to attend the Mekong Regional Forum on regional arrangement for disaster and communicable disease emergencies.

“We have to set up a regional law which has similar tools to work together in fields of disaster management and communicable diseases,” Nhim Vanda, senor minister and first deputy president of the National Disaster Management Committee (NDMC) of Cambodia was quoted by China ’s Xinhua news agency as saying at the forum.

Cambodia will approve a law of disaster management soon, he said.

Cambodia and the Asian Disaster Preparedness Centre (ADPC) will work together to host as international conference on disaster management in the future.

“Having good laws and systems in place will help us to get the right information to right place at the right time after a disaster,” Pum Chantinie, secretary of general of the Cambodian Red Cross said.

This event received support from the Cambodian Red Cross, Asia Development Bank (ADB), and international Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies and NDMC.

Cambodia , Laos and Vietnam are among the countries through which the Mekong River flows, creating fertile land in what is known as the “rice bowl” of the region.

Unfortunately, this region is also prone to flash flooding and droughts, which occur on an annual basis, running valuable crops as well as lives, the meeting’s press release said./.